


Hidden Pathways

by Merfilly



Series: Walk a Different Road [5]
Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi, Resurrection, Xenophilia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-16
Updated: 2011-08-16
Packaged: 2017-10-22 16:42:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/240192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Optimus still seeks his companion, but where is he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hidden Pathways

**Author's Note:**

  * For [femme4jack](https://archiveofourown.org/users/femme4jack/gifts).



> 1\. Non-Explicit cross-species relationship
> 
> 2\. Disavows everything post RotF.

_You're not here. So many others I can hear, feel, know... but never you. Did you lose the way?_

`~`~`~`~`

Optimus's optics onlined in a brilliant flash as his core systems spiked violently. Had he been a human, he would have had to gasp for air. As it stood, he manually turned on all his cooling fans to pull the heat away from his internal systems, and moved clear of the human sized mattress at the top of his berth.

It was too much to hope that she had slept through the sudden interruption of his deep meditation.

"Optimus...."

"Shh, Mikaela. You should be resting still. It has only been just short of three hours since you slipped into sleep."

"All the more reason for me to be awake, then, because you promised Ratchet you would take a full recharge and let your processors spin down, run the clinical scan, and initiate deep level nanite repair of your systems," Mikaela listed off. "So, either we're being invaded, or Sideswipe pissed off the cops again."

Optimus, uncharacteristically, did not even smile at the latter, which had Mikaela twisting to get to her clothing. Gently, he cupped his hand around her to stop the process, before shifting his hand in invitation for her to sit upon it. She accepted, the metal of his hand cooler than his core at least, but she could tell he had felt a surge of energy throughout his frame.

The leader cupped his other hand under the one she was in, cradling her up to hold just in front of his chest, face tipped down to watch her. "My meditation prior to recharge and the rest of the self-repair you mentioned were... interrupted," he told her, his voice gone painfully self-aware and hesitant to her ears.

Sometimes, when Optimus tried to be diplomatic about something, he reminded her far too much of Bumblebee.

"What is it, Optimus?" she asked him, meeting that earnest look with one of her own.

"I was searching for one who was lost to us, within the connection to the AllSpark."

Mikaela and he had discussed the fact that though the AllSpark's physical manifestation in this particular dimension was no more, the psychic link was still there, connecting Prime to all of his people, past and present. That was the point that religion and metaphysics had collided, at least in Mikaela's head, and they had decided to let the subject go.

Which, she decided, was not enough to warrant the hesitation.

"You've done that before, and it's usually led to you slipping right into recharge with no problem," she pointed out.

"In all the time since I lost this mech, I have never found him there."

Mikaela was not slow. Optimus had originally said 'to us' and yet it was 'I lost'. She had heard the faint whispers of those who came to Earth, asking where Mikaela stood. Was she as Elita had been, the bonded spark mate, chosen to help maintain ties between the more predominant mech class and the femme class with their lesser understood abilities? Or was she as Jazz had been, the anchor point that helped Prime guard against Megatron's influence?

Mikaela knew that Prime had loved them both, and though she had not met Elita One, she knew enough to be honored for any comparison to her. However, Prime's tone was more indicative of the lost spymaster.

"I didn't get to know him, Prime, but it seems like he would have never had trouble finding anything he wanted to," she said, to open up a chance for him to talk about Jazz.

"No, he would not have had difficulty at all. Little stood between Jazz and his choice to succeed." A smile curved those mobile lips, and Mikaela felt some tension shift out of the hands cupping her close to the mech she loved without reservation.

"So why is he not there?" Mikaela was curious, and wondered if this was another case like Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, if Jazz might be hidden within Prime's own Spark.

"I do not know, but I have reached a point where I am unwilling to wait longer for answers." That deep resonance of decisions made was enough to cause Mikaela to shiver; her Prime's voice was always dangerous on her senses, but now, with the status of a dear love at stake, she was reminded of just how truly dangerous he could be if he chose to be... or if his guards against his Protector faltered.

"Ratchet saw to recovering all parts," Mikaela said softly, even as Prime slowly slid down on the berth to actually lay still, turning enough on his side to place his human femme on her mattress at the head of the berth.

"Then I shall have to see through my promise of self-repair and recharge, in order to give him one less reason to be cantankerous with me. Discussing this will be hard enough on Ratchet."

//And you, Optimus. You loved him more than any of the others, and they all did.// "Optimus, why don't you let me handle Ratchet?" she suggested softly. "I can see you and him winding up in a bad shape if you both get to talking about Jazz, this soon, for you guys, after losing him."

Optimus let his optics dim, then nodded as he realized she was right. "It has only been three of your years. You are correct."

"Always, handsome." She gathered up a pillow and her blanket, cue for Optimus to shift completely to his back, and scaled up to make a nest on his chest plates. He needed her close, and she used a thick down blanket just to have padding for moments like these.

As he powered down, and she grew sleepy again, it was with his hands locked over her, a protective bubble for her... and a reassurance for him that his newest love was still safe.

`~`~`~`~`

Ratchet was not in the best of moods when Mikaela got there the next morning. She looked at him with confusion, but this pattern was growing into habit. Prime got upset, so Ironhide went off with the Lennoxes, Bumblebee steered clear of base with Sam, and Ratchet grumbled.

Their cadre was too small, Sideswipe had once said, and she'd overheard Hound agree with him. Jolt had asked if that made all their groups too small, but Mikaela had not gotten to hear that answer, as Sideswipe had resorted to comms instead of spoken words.

Privately, she thought that it had something to do with the fact Prime's cadre had been unchanged for so long, and that all of them tended to go together, instead of long absences, like Mirage and Hound had faced with one another. Hound spoke of others in their cadre, others he knew were still alive, but not here, not yet. She knew they were all looking forward to their arrival, as it would mean the advancement of Prime's plans to build a colony on Mars.

"Ratch," Mikaela said in a patient voice after the third spanner went flying across the bay for being the wrong shape, size, or just in his way.

That made the medic stop, fully becoming aware that his apprentice was on deck, and then he frowned. "Can't use you today; go work with Lennox or something."

"Will is on leave. So is Bobby and most of the core NEST command, due to the fact we haven't recorded an impact event since shortly after Hound arrived." She marched right over to Ratchet, not about to be dismissed so out of hand. "You would do well to learn by their example. Now, mister 'orders everyone else around on medical reasoning', I'm making a diagnosis!" She watched his optics cycle in surprise at her cavalier attitude. "Ironhide is with his family. Bee and Sam went to the beach, if I heard Hound correctly. Jolt's on monitor, Sideswipe's his back up, and I've got both Mirage and Hound to lean into here, while Arcee is still recovering from losing her two mirrors. The twins are on location in Egypt still, and behaving, so tell me one good damn reason you and Prime can't both roll out for alone time?"

Ratchet's look of disbelief and then sheer admiration was one Mikaela would remember for a long time. It interfered with her plans to talk about Jazz, but even she could tell the medic needed downtime to purge the backlash of Optimus's shock the night prior. They could take care of each other, and all would be smooth for a time.

"You're not fully qualified as a medic," he grumped, an excuse because her offer did appeal to him and she could see it in the minute vibrations of his plating.

"Enough to monitor Arcee's repair tank, and enough to handle any accidents on site. You won't be that far, and Prime's likely to hear the call for combat before Jolt even tells me, now isn't he?" Mikaela pointed out.

"You're going to be as bad as me, Mikaela Banes." He ran a single finger over her hair in appreciation of what she was offering him, then left the bay to find his Prime and bully or cajole him out of the base.

That left Mikaela as chief medical officer for the day, but even an apprentice got to be the boss when there were only two to start with.

`~`~`~`~`

Jolt passed on a message that Prime and Ratchet would not be returning that night, and Mikaela didn't much feel like sleeping in the berth alone. She thought about going to find Hound, but he was likely with Mirage, who was still standoffish with her. Jolt nor Sideswipe bothered her, but they were both on duty.

Staying in Medical seemed like a good idea. She read one of the Le Carre novels to Arcee, knowing that the external stimulation was a good thing for her as she continued to absorb mass from the nutrient and mineral rich solution Ratchet had her immersed in up to her neck. When she got to the end of the book and she still wasn't that tired, a fact Mikaela blamed on whatever it was that the Spark energies were doing to her, she got up and started exploring Medical. Ratchet was always in the midst of projects to better help them utilize both native minerals and energies, so those experiments got cursory glances.

Living so long with the Cybertronians had made Mikaela's ears sharp for the hum of power in lines, so when she inspected one experiment and heard the lines near it, simple curiosity made her inspect why this particular station required a high energy feed.

Only, as she looked, the lines did not feed the bench that the experiment was on, in any fashion. They seemed to go down, into the cabinet beneath the mammoth work station. The doors, she found, were sealed, and she would bet the locks were keyed to Ratchet himself. As her hand hovered over the seals, though, she felt a prickle she thought she knew, thought was impossible, and yet... it made sense.

Inside that locked cabinet was another tank; she would bet everything she was on it. Only, as damaged as that mech had been, she thought the unshielded spark energy pricking at her nerves meant it was strictly to hold that spark, feed it back to full viability.

And if that was the case, she wondered just where Ratchet was hiding the frame. Or had he even... no, that was it. Mikaela remembered all her apprentice work to build spare limbs and other interchangeable 'blanks'.

Ratchet was being careful, but she thought she had his secret now.

Jazz wasn't in the link to the AllSpark because Jazz had never died, no matter what the stubborn medic had told Prime. Optimus would have suffered, seeing the slow rebuild that was evidential in the pieces Mikaela was putting together. Ratchet had protected him, and still refused to give up on his cadre mate.

Now, Mikaela had to find a way to keep Optimus from worrying at the mystery so much, while making Ratchet trust her enough to see if she could help.

`~`~`~`~`


End file.
